The A6M Zero was a marvel of Japanese engineering and design, featuring rounded domes protecting an internal bag that could be inflated using a pilot-controlled valve which redirected air from the front air intake. This clever design allowed the plane to stay aloft even after a crash landing into the sea, ensuring the plane would not sink. The designers of this plane clearly never intended it to be used as a disposable weapon.

Yet, that is exactly what happened. The Japanese Air Force met little airborne resistance in China, its vastly more advanced planes picking out the archaic Chinese bi-planes with ease. It would meet a far more formidable enemy on December 7th, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack aimed to cripple the US Navy and cement Japan as the most powerful Navy in the Pacific. A show of force to dissuade the mighty American Navy from interfering with the Empire's domination of Asia.

An ill-advised attack that had the opposite effect. America entered WW2 the same day, with its two primary fighters at the time: The P-40 Warhawk and the F4F Wildcat. Neither were as nimble as the A6M, and in early battles, the Zero had a tactical advantage, despite both planes having a higher top speed. Much of this was down to the superb training of the Japanese pilots, who at the outset of the war, were among the best in the world.

The Japanese focused on quality over quantity. This slowly changed over the course of the war. Skilled pilots were dying quicker than Japan could produce them, and instead, Japan switched its training process into overdrive. Sending hundreds of green pilots to war was a desperate attempt to keep up with the demand for experienced pilots. The final blow to the legendary plane would come when the US Navy captured an intact Zero and began probing it for weaknesses.

They soon discovered three fatal flaws that would dismantle its tactical advantage overnight. The Americans knew of the Zero's tendency to burst into flames, due to its weak armoring and lack of self-sealing fuel tanks. It only took a few shots to disable the plane; the trouble was getting into a position to get those shots in. With American test flights of the Zero, they soon found their opening. The Zero suffered from the exact same problems as early Merlin engines, which powered British planes like the Spitfire and Hurricane.

It utilized a float carburetor, which, as we discovered in one of my earlier videos, made zero-g maneuvers impossible because it caused the float valve to open, flooding the engine and shutting it off. Unlike the Merlin engines of the Spitfire, however, the Zero's issues were never addressed and received little upgrades throughout the war. The last nail in the coffin for the Zero came with the discovery of its sluggish nature at high speeds, becoming much less maneuverable when maxed out, due to aerodynamic stiffening of the ailerons.

Where high airspeeds made it difficult for pilots to extend the control surfaces with their simple manual lever control system without any help from hydraulics. With these characteristics in mind, American pilots were trained on how to deal with the Zero. The primary rule being for Allied pilots to maintain high speed and never to try to out-maneuver a Zero at low speeds.

With its tactical advantage gone, and no improvement to be seen, Japan was running short on skilled pilots. The Zero was given the role of Kamikaze bomber, along with the other outdated planes of the Japanese Air Force for an island nation at war, running short on valuable raw materials. This was a desperate last attempt at protecting the motherland.

The common story retold was that these young men were brainwashed to an absolute devotion to their emperor. The living god of Japan. All too often, detail is lost by only listening to secondary sources. The stories told directly by Japanese pilots paint a different story. Letters from young pilots, like Captain Adachi Takuya, paint a picture of young men sacrificing their lives for their loved ones.

Perhaps the most telling of all stories comes directly from the mouth of one of Japan's most famous aces, "Saburo Sakai". This is a paraphrased quote from an interview before his death in 2000. "A lot of Westerners looked at the kamikaze strategy with complete shock, the idea of putting a kid in a plane and telling him to kill himself by crashing into the enemy. But even if you don't tell him to crash into something, putting a kid with only about 20 hours flight time into a plane and telling him to take on U.S. pilots in Hellcats and Corsairs is just as much a suicidal tactic.

Being a kamikaze. We figured that if they're going to die anyway, the kamikaze attack will probably cause more damage to the enemy for the same price in lives. But let me tell you, all that stuff you read about the kamikaze strategy with complete shock and drama is just hype. It's not a dramatic story; it's just a story of pilots who died in a war."

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThis episode of Real Engineering is broughtto you by Brilliant, a problem solving websitethat teaches you to think like an engineer.In the late 19th and early 20th century theJapanese Empire was under rapid expansion,fueled by a feudal born military economy andEuropean technology.First invading the chainof islands north and south of it’s homeisland, fighting a bitter war with Russiafor control over Manchuria and annexing Koreaall before WW1.The outbreak of World War 1 gave Japan theperfect platform to expand further, allingagainst Germany and taking control of Germanpositions in the Pacific.Making Japan the dominant power in the eastPacific, with its sphere of influence extendingfrom the Asian mainland to the mid Pacific.To maintain this influence Japan had undergonerapid industrial expansion, growing from atechnologically primitive feudal country,and developing the third largest Navy in theworld, with only the United States and theBritish Navies challenging it.With US territory in the Philippines and Hawaii,and British territory in Malaya, Hong Kongand British Borneo, conflict was inevitableand tension in the Pacific was rapidly growing.On September 27th 1940 Japan entered an alliancewith Germany and Italy, a clear warning tothe Americans.Enter the war in Europe, and you will facewar in the Pacific.This warning did not come unchallenged andthe United States moved it’s pacific fleetfrom California to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.From here many of us are familiar with thestory.Japan capitalized on this ill advised showof force and took the United States by surprise,attempting to wipe out the US Navy in thePacific in one foul swoop.A decisive victory that announced Japan tothe Western world as a force to be reckonedwith.At the height of their power in WW2 Japanseized control from Western powers in Chinaand Southeast Asia.But the war machine was doomed to failure,and was destined to over extend itself.Nothing illustrates the turning fate of theJapanese Empire like it’s iconic fighterplane the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.A plane that entered world war 2 as fearedand formidable advisory for any plane in thepacific theatre, but slowly and surely lostits tactical advantage until it was finallyregulated to a dispensable resource, fittedwith 250 kilogram bombs and flown straightat enemy ships in a last ditch effort to protectthe Empire.The Zero was a thoughtfully designed plane.Its designer Jiro Horikoshi, built upon theframework of his previous design the A5M,the world’s first carrier based monoplane.TheImperial Japanese Army challenged Mitsubishiand Nakajima to both design and build successorsto this plane to aid the war effort in China.The plane was to have a top speed of 500 km/h,be fitted with two 7.7 mm machines guns andtwo 20 mm cannons, incredibly heavy armamentsfor fighters of that era.On top of all this, it was to have an operatingceiling of 10,000 metres.Be capable of flying 2 hours at max speed,and 6 to 8 hours at cruising speed with droptanks attached.These were fuel tanks that could be jettisonedwhen empty, or when an enemy was encounteredto increase maneuverability.These specifications alone were ambitiousenough, but the plane also needed to be carrierbased, which limited it’s wingspan to 12metres.The specifications were so ambitious thatNakajima pulled their bid from the project,but Jiro Horikoshi persevered.His design was ingenious.Incorporating many of the most advanced techniquesof the era.Thin elliptical wings minimised drag, alongwith state of the art flush riveting.New heat treatment knowledge obtained fromthe Germans allowed Horikoshi to develop anall metal structure.It’s frame entirely made from this new agehardened aluminium and he cut holes into theframe where possible to reduce weight.All to achieve that ambitious range requirementof the Imperial Japanese Army, but that requirementforced Jiro to make some sacrifices to theplanes design.Favouring speed, maneuverability and rangewith its lightweight construction, over heavyarmoring.It’s skin was only 1.2 millimeters thickover it’s thickest sections, like the leadingedge of the wing, and forward fuselage tojust 0.5 mm thick at it’s thinnest overthe aft sections of the plane.While enemy outer skin thicknesses were notsignificantly thicker, the outer skin is intendedto be a smooth aerodynamic surface not protectivearmouring.Typically these planes would contain thickerplate armouring over key locations like theengine, fuel tank and cockpit.The zero did not.On top of this the zero did not employ self-sealingfuel tanks, which used several layers of rubberthat would swell and expand when soaked infuel, and thus seal any holes.Weight savings even came down to the cockpitsize, which was smaller than most Westerndesigns, designed to fit the on average, shorterJapanese pilot.The zero was designed on a doctrine of trainingskilled pilots with nimble, lightweight planes.What use was armor if you didn’t get hit,what use was armor if you didn’t have therange to patrol your territory.The lightweight skin made it difficult toget into the plane without damaging it, sothe designers incorporated footholds and handles,which sat flush to the planes surface, andcould be released with a button when needed.This mechanism seen from the inside of theplane looks like a mushroom.With these rounded domes protecting an internalbag which could be inflated using a pilotcontrolled valve which redirected air fromthe front air intake, so that in the eventof an crash landing into the sea the planewould not sink.The designers of this plane clearly neverintended it to be used as a disposable weapon.Yet that is exactly what happened.The Japanese Air Force met little airborneresistance in China, it’s vastly more advancedplanes picked the archaic chinese bi-planesout of the sky with ease.It would meet a far more formidable enemyon December 7th, 1941, when Japan attackedPearl Harbor.The surprise attack aimed to cripple the USNavy and cement Japan as the most powerfulNavy in the Pacific. A show of force todissuade the mighty American Navy from interferingwith the Empire’s domination of Asia.An ill advised attack that had the oppositeeffect.America entered WW2 the same day, with ittwo primary fighters at the time.The P-40 Warhawk, and the F4F Wildcat.Neither were as nimble as the A6M,and in earlybattles the Zero had a tactical advantage,despite both planes having a higher top speed.Much of this was down to the superb trainingof the Japanese pilots, who at the outsetof the war, were among the best in the world.The Japanese focused on quality over quantity.This slowly changed over the course of thewar.Skilled pilots we dying quicker than Japancould produce them, and instead Japan switchedit’s training process into overdrive.Sending hundreds of green pilots to war.The final blow to the legendary plane wouldcome when the US Navy captured an intact Zeroand began probing it for weaknesses.They soon discovered three fatal flaws thatwould dismantle its tactical advantage overnight.The Americans knew of the Zero’s tendencyto burst into flames, due to it’s weak armouringand lack of self sealing fuel tanks.It only took a few shots to disable the plane,the trouble was getting into a position toget those shots in.With American test flights of the Zero theysoon found their opening.The Zero suffered from the exact same problemas early Merlin engines, which powered Britishplanes like the Spitfire and Hurricane,It utilized a float carburetor, which as wediscovered in one of my early videos, madezero-g maneuvers impossible as it caused thefloat valve to open.Flooding the engine and shutting it off.Unlike the Merlin engines of the Spitfirehowever, the Zero’s issues were never addressed,and received little upgrades throughout thewar.The last nail in the coffin for the Zero camewith the discovery of it sluggish nature athigh speeds, becoming much less maneuverablewhen maxed out, due to aerodynamic stiffeningof the ailerons.Where high airspeeds made it difficult forpilots to extend the control surfaces withtheir simple manual lever control system withno help from hydraulics.With these characteristics in mind Americanpilots were trained on how to deal with theZero.The primary rule being for Allied pilots tomaintain high speed and never to try to out-maneuvera Zero at low speeds.With its tactical advantage gone, and no improvementsto be seen, and Japan running short on skilledpilots The Zero was given the role of Kamikazebomber, along with the other outdated planesof the Japanese Air Force.For an island nation at war, running shorton valuable raw materials, this was a desperatelast attempt at protecting the motherland.The common story retold was that these youngmen were brainwashed to an absolute devotionto their emperor.The living god of Japan.All too often, detail is lost by only listeningto secondary sources.The stories told directly by Japanese pilotspaint a different story.Letters from young pilots , like CaptainAdachi Takuya, paint a picture of young mensacrificing their lives for their loved ones.Perhaps the most telling of all stories comesdirectly from the mouth of one of Japan’smost famous aces “Saburo Sakai” . Thisis a paraphrased quote from an interview beforehis death in 2000.“A lot of Westerners looked at the kamikazestrategy with complete shock, the idea ofputting a kid in a plane and telling him tokill himself by crashing into the enemy.But even if you don't tell him to crash intosomething, putting a kid with only about 20hours flight time into a plane and tellinghim to take on U.S. pilots in Hellcats andCorsairs is just as much a suicidal tacticas being a kamikaze.We figured that if they're going to die anyway,the kamikaze attack will probably cause moredamage to the enemy for the same price inlives.But let me tell you, all that stuffyou read about \"dying for the emperor ... Banzai!\"that's all crap.”It should be noted that in the same interviewSaburo denies the Rape of Nanjing everhappened, which is essentially on par withholocaust denial, so you may want to takeany information from this primary source witha grain of salt.These young men were often barely trainedwith more than a basic understanding of flightmechanics, and many of them crashed into thesea well away from enemy ships, preciselybecause they never learned to deal with theZero’s control surfaces becoming essentiallyuseless at high speeds, like in a dive.Many of them died desperately pulling on theirstick, not being able to overcome the forceof air pushing the surface back down.I think it’s fair to say, these young menwere not solely dying out of duty for theiremperor, but for their family, their friends,for their country.Emboldened by a culture where the group takesprecedence over the individual, where suicidewas viewed as a reasonable and honorable choice,when faced with defeat.This wasn’t terrorism, as many western writershave stated.This was war.The most devastating Kamikaze attack on May11th 1945, came just two months after theUnited States firebombed Tokyo, killing over100,000, displacing 1 million and cuttingthe industrial output of the city in half.This bombing raid was more destructive thaneither of the nuclear bombs.With industrial output declining, raw materialsscarce, trained men few and far between andtheir homeland under attack.This culture of self sacrifice for the countrymade Japan a fortress that no army wantedto invade.Made worse by President Roosevelt’s policyof unconditional surrender, which only encouragedunconditional resistance, and so two youngJapanese Pilots Kiyoshi Ogawa and Seizo Yasunori,each piloting Zeros with 250 kg bombs attachedflew to their death on that day.Emerging from low cloud cover the two rookiepilots began their diving attack on the aircraftcarrier the USS Bunker Hill, releasing theirbombs and proceeding to crash their planesstraight into the flight deck.Both bombs penetrate d the flight deck andthe resulting fires and explosions claimedthe lives of over 390 sailors and airmen.A devastating attack, that disabled the aircraftcarrier for the rest of the war, but thiswas a rare occurrence and the vast majoritykamikaze attacks failed to hit a target.Either missing the target completely, or beingintercepted by anti-aircraft fire and enemyfighters.Ultimately the Japanese were being pushedback to their native Island and the B-29sthat dropped the nuclear bombs in Nagasakiand Hiroshima weren’t even escorted overJapanese land, as the Japanese Air Force hadlittle resources to counter an attack likethis.Their airforce had risen and fallen alongsidetheir empire.I’m not going to do any smooth segue forthis video, as it would just be off tone,but videos like this would not be possiblewithout Brilliant.My goal for this project has always been toinspire the next generation of engineers.Brilliant is the perfect partner for thischannel because their courses are designedto educate you from knowing nothing to havinga deep understanding of a topic.I wanted tobrush up on my maths skills, as I haven’thad much opportunity to practice since graduatinguniversity.So I took this course on differential equations,which are vital for any student engineer tolearn.All that information that has slowly witheredaway over years came rushing back.If you want to start at a more basic levelyou can even take these foundational mathcourses and work your way up.Giving you the tools to analyse the worldaround you.These may initially sound complicated andscary, but Brilliant guides you through problemsthat are broken into digestible sections withfun problems to test your knowledge alongthe way.If I have inspired you and you want to educateyourself, then go to brilliant.org/RealEngineeringand sign up for free.And the first 73 peoplethat go to that link will get 20% off theannual Premium subscription.As always thanks for watching and thank youto all my Patreon supporters.If you would like to see more from me thelinks to my instagram, twitter, subredditand discord server are below.\n"